Runs were hard to come by for most of Saturday night’s contest between the LSU baseball team and Kentucky.
But the No. 1 Tigers made scoring look pretty easy in an eighth-inning explosion.
After battling the Wildcats to a 2-2 draw through seven innings, LSU erupted for five runs in the eighth and evened their weekend series against Kentucky with a 7-3 victory in Alex Box Stadium.
LSU junior infielder Chris Chinea and senior infielder Jared Foster each homered in the high-scoring inning, masking an otherwise rough night at the plate for the Tigers.
“It’s satisfying to know that we split the first two games and have a chance to win the series even though we haven’t played our best game of the weekend yet,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We played okay today, but we didn’t play great.”
After scoring just two runs through the first seven innings, LSU (23-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) stringed together quality at-bats in the eighth, and Chinea and Foster made sure the Tigers capitalized.
With two runners on and one away, Chinea drilled a 1-0 pitch to centerfield, and Kentucky junior outfielder Kyle Barrett’s attempt at a diving catch was fruitless.
But the ball rolled past the warning track and appeared to get caught under the centerfield fence, and Kentucky (17-10, 3-5 SEC) contested that it was unplayable. But after a debate from Mainieri and a review, the umpires ruled in favor of Chinea, awarding him an inside-the-park homer that put the Tigers up, 5-2.
“[The rule states] if you can see the ball under the outfield fence, then they have to go get it,” Mainieri said. “Everybody in the world could see the ball was there. The umpire went and grabbed it himself.”
Admittedly one of the slowest players on the club, Chinea said he never thought his first home run of the season would be inside the park. But he’ll take it anyway.
“A home run’s a home run,” Chinea said.
After a single from LSU senior designated hitter Chris Sciambra, Foster added to the Tigers’ lead by crushing a two-run bomb out of the park. It was Foster’s sixth home run of the season, and it gave the Tigers a commanding 7-2 lead after eight.
The Wildcats chipped away at LSU’s lead with two away in the top of the ninth, but sophomore pitcher Alden Cartwright fanned Kentucky junior pinch hitter Dorian Hairston to wrap up the win.
Tigers’ senior southpaw Zac Person (1-0) was credited the victory, but LSU freshman pitcher Alex Lange was the story for most of Saturday’s game.
Lange tossed seven innings of one-run baseball, giving up six hits while matching his career-high of 13 strikeouts. The Tigers’ hard-throwing freshman fanned at least two batters in six of the seven innings he pitched, including striking out the side to start the game in the first.
But Lange also struggled during his seventh start of the season, including walking a career-worst five batters. Despite striking out 13 batters for the second time in three starts, Lange was more concerned with the number of free passes he handed Kentucky.
“I fell behind several guys,” Lange said. “Luckily, I was able to battle back. But the five walks is what hurts. Thirteen [strikeouts], that kind of stuff is cool, but five walks hurts and is not acceptable.”
But the Tigers’ rookie sensation rarely let the Wildcats capitalize on his mistakes. Lange struck out back-to-back Wildcats to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the third and then struck out two of three with a runner on third base in the fifth.
“When he gets in those jams, he always seems to find a way,” Mainieri said. “The kid not only has talent, but he’s got an unbelievable competitive streak about him.”
But the Tigers didn’t give Lange much support when he was on the mound. LSU mustered only seven hits through the first seven innings and were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
But LSU’s eighth inning onslaught may have saved it from its first series defeat of the season.
“That shows what kind of offense we are,” Foster said. “We had a tough day and a tough seven innings, but we bounced back.”
The Tigers and Wildcats will battle in a rubber match at 11 a.m. Sunday in Alex Box Stadium. LSU freshman pitcher Jake Godfrey (5-0, 2.25 ERA) will get the starting nod against Kentucky junior right-hander Kyle Cody (2-2, 4.88 ERA).
It’ll be LSU’s third consecutive to reach a rubber match, and the Tigers are 2-0 in their previous two against Ole Miss and Arkansas. Mainieri hopes his club can do it again.
“It was great to come back and win a game [Saturday] and even the series,” Mainieri said. “Now tomorrow is the rubber game. We’ve been there before, and hopefully we’ll play our best game of the weekend.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR